Report predicts rural phone troubles under FCC plan

A year-old Federal Communications Commission (FCC) order intended to improve broadband services throughout the country likely will result in less communications services in rural areas, a Missouri State University report predicts.

And the rural phone company that paid for that report wants Missourians — and their state and federal lawmakers — to know it.

“Rural Missouri will experience a loss of jobs, a reduction in economic output, and lost tax revenue,” the Chariton Valley Telephone Corp. news release warned, as the company announced the conclusion of a new economic study.

The study, conducted by David Mitchell, director of Missouri State University’s Bureau of Economic Research, looked only at the effects the federal changes would cause to Chariton Valley’s operations and costs.

Read additional details in our newspaper or e-Edition. Newspaper subscribers: Click on an e-Edition article and log in using your current account information at no extra charge. For e-edition help, e-mail circ@newstribune.com. Click here to purchase the full version of archived articles.